Hi Pastor John,
I inspected some vans for an Assembly of God location yesterday. I was told a pastor would meet me outside with the keys. After arriving there, a young unkempt kid came out to bring me the keys. He was polite but felt very worldly. I left there thinking about his appearance and what that says to the hearts that may come to him seeking after Jesus. I know God judges the heart but God also proves His work. God bears fruit. I thought back to the things Jesus so gently cleaned up when he first began to make me ready to know him and his Father. Language, clothing, brashness, habits, Jesus started there. I spent two years in Jesus’ arms while he washed the dirt of this world off of me. Two years getting cleaned up to be in a condition to receive the holy Ghost. I came to Jesus asking for proof in 2010. I didn’t even know what I was saying but Jesus did. I needed him to be real and was terrified he was not. Since then, over and over again, Jesus shows me how real he is. He doesn’t have to but he does. Jesus bears fruit.
The other morning, sitting out in the hospital parking lot expecting that morning that our lives would be changing, I began to pray and ask Jesus to help me go through whatever he was about to do. I asked him to let me make him happy and to do this like my elders have.
I left that Assembly of God place thinking about all of this and about you and the body and all the proof Jesus has surrounded me with. I know the cleanliness and standard held by an anointed man of God. I can see and feel God on him. I know the testimonies, experiences, and feelings of hearts touched by Jesus. I know I could never have the heart to pray to submit to a trial. That was never me. I have always fallen apart at any trauma. Jesus bears fruit.
Thinking on all of this makes me feel like I am wrapped up in Jesus’ arms, like in the beginning, and he keeps letting me see how real he is. I am surrounded by how real he is, here with all of His fruit. I wish there was a better human word than valuable or treasure. I would use it to say how I feel about this.
Beth D.